Lyles’ efforts erased by bullpen in loss to Cardinals

ST. LOUIS – Jordan Lyles spent 6 1/3 innings controlling and containing the best team in Major League Baseball.

Then Matt Carpenter erased the 22-year-old righthander’s work with one game-changing swing.

Astros lefthanded reliever Wesley Wright, who took over for Lyles with one out in the seventh, fell behind 2-0 to the lefthanded-hitting Carpenter. The fourth pitch was a 91 mph fastball drilled into the right-field stands for a two-run home run that suddenly turned the Astros’ one-run lead into a one-run deficit.

The 5-4 score held and the Cardinals captured both contests during a two-game interleague series at Busch Stadium.

“That there is a situation where you’re going left on left. You have your lefthanded specialist warmed up and you’ve got back-to-back leftys,” Astros manager Bo Porter said. “Even if they would’ve hit for the second lefty, you have the righty ready if they chose to do that. We just did not get it done. They won the crucial break point and it gave them the ballgame.”

The Astros (32-59) have lost five of six and are just 4-13 in their last 17 games.

St. Louis improved to 55-34.

Ex-Cardinal Brett Wallace went 4-for-5 for the Astros, recording a temporary go-ahead RBI single to right field in the seventh inning that scored Jose Altuve.

“It’s just about getting back in a rhythm and going up there and being confident,” said Wallace, who is 15-for-47 since rejoining the Astros and has improved his average to .225.

Chris Carter returned to the starting lineup by hitting a line-drive solo home run to right field to lead off the second inning. Carter’s slicing shot was treated by the Cardinals’ Allen Craig as a long single — the right fielder threw to second base after the ball bounced off the wall. But Carter was told to circle the bases and his team-leading 18th home run was legit.

The Astros proceeded to load the bases in the second but were held to two runs. A potential third run was erased when a safety squeeze by Lyles turned into J.D. Martinez easily being thrown out at home plate.

The Astros left 13 men on base and were just 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position.

Cardinals righthander Shelby Miller – who entered the game 9-6 with a 2.80 ERA – was done after the fifth, allowing five hits, three runs and five walks on 94 pitches.

After four smooth, efficient innings, Lyles temporarily lost his command in the fifth. A four-pitch walk to Carpenter loaded the bases with one out. Lyles turned a throw-away curve into a check-swing strikeout of Jon Jay. But the 22-year-old righty fell behind 3-0 to Matt Holliday, brought the count to 3-2, then threw a 93 mph fastball that Holliday sliced down the first-base line for a two-run single. The well-placed opposite-field hit tied the contest at 3 and brought the stadium to full roar.

“I just need to make better pitches,” said Lyles, who received a no-decision and saw his ERA rise to 4.02.

Lyles hit Tony Cruz to start the seventh, then fought back to strike out pinch-hitter Yadier Molina before being pulled for the lefthanded-throwing Wright, who faced the lefthanded-hitting Carpenter.

Four pitches later, one swing changed the game and Lyles’ work was erased.

“That was totally a left-on-left decision. And you look at the stress of the innings in which he had gotten to that point,” Porter said. “And I sent him back out there with the notion that he was going to face Cruz, he was going to face the pinch-hitter and that Wesley was going to be ready for Carpenter.”

Lyles acknowledged he had an extended fifth inning but “was good” after a short sixth.

“We didn’t talk about it,” Lyles said. “I was just going out there trying to get outs. I hit the first guy and got Molina out. That was my day.”

The Astros placed runners on first and second with one out in the ninth but pinch-hitter Carlos Pena grounded into a game-ending double play.